under secretary

American

[uhn-der-sek-ri-ter-ee] / ˈʌn dərˈsɛk rɪˌtɛr i /

Or undersecretary

noun

(often initial capital letters)

an official who is subordinate to a principal secretary, as in the U.S. cabinet.

Under Secretary of the Treasury.

Etymology

Origin of under secretary

First recorded in 1680–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

under secretary

Emil Michael, under secretary for research and engineering, has led the Defense Department’s negotiations with Anthropic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

On Friday, Sarah Rogers, the State Department under secretary for public diplomacy, said Deranque's killing showed "why we treat political violence -- terrorism -- so harshly".

From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026

When the Conservatives won the 1979 election, Margaret Thatcher appointed Tebbit as an under secretary of state at the Department of Trade.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2025

"You don't want your next deputy under secretary of the Treasury to go work for a lobbyist for four years,' Fagan said. "You want them to be doing policy planning.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2024

But in this matter of managing the Emperor, the under secretary had nothing to do, and would have been the last man to be engaged in such a service.

From The Way We Live Now by Trollope, Anthony

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023